Danish coastline declared clear of WWII antipersonnel landmines

(Geneva, 5 July 2012): Denmark’s Minister of Transport declared the country clear of antipersonnel landmines at a ceremony in Copenhagen today.Danish authorities said that the final areas of mined land were cleared in June 2012.“It is great that Denmark has finally got rid of this 60-year-old deadly legacy, just ahead of the 1 July clearance deadline it had to meet,” said Firoz Alizada, ICBL Campaign Manager.

(Geneva, 5 July 2012): Denmark’s Minister of Transport declared the country clear of antipersonnel landmines at a ceremony in Copenhagen today.Danish authorities said that the final areas of mined land were cleared in June 2012.“It is great that Denmark has finally got rid of this 60-year-old deadly legacy, just ahead of the 1 July clearance deadline it had to meet,” said Firoz Alizada, ICBL Campaign Manager.“We look forward to hearing Denmark report in more detail on clearance of this challenging coastal terrain at the 12th Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty this December,” he added.Huge numbers of both antipersonnel and antivehicle mines were laid along Denmark’s Skallingen Peninsula during World War II. When Denmark became one of the first countries to sign the Mine Ban Treaty in 1997, 1.86 square kilometres of that land was still contaminated.Denmark was initially given until 2009 to ensure all its mined land was cleared, but has twice been granted extensions to this deadline by the other States Parties, bringing its new obligation to 1 July 2012. At this year’s meetings of at the Intersessional Standing Committees to the Mine Ban Treaty in May, Danish representatives said that it was aiming to complete clearance in time for the deadline, but that quality assurance activities might take longer than that.